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STAMFORD, Conn. — John Stage prides himself on not cutting any corners when it comes to his
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
restaurants, and doesn’t plan on doing it with his Stamford location that will open to the public Wednesday.

“We could do everything easier, but choose not to,” he said at the special event at the restaurant Tuesday.
In fact, he said, he has gone the other way by putting in a fire grill – unique to Stamford,he said – instead of using gas stoves. While it may be more difficult, he said it is worth it to “up the steak game,” specifically mentioning the Korean flat iron and ribeye steak dishes.

Other dishes are made over barbecue pits, and are always fresh with dinner dishes being prepared in the morning, and lunch the night before, Stage said.

The Harlem resident first became interested in opening his sixth restaurant in Stamford’s South End in 2010 before
Fairway Market opened
, and stayed in touch with
Harbor Point
to see how the redevelopment was going.

“Every time I came back something new was popping up,” Stage said, “The energy was in a good direction.”
He signed the lease in November of last year, and began construction in July.

While the renovations in the South End were attractive, so was the 140-car parking lot, which is more than the New York restaurants offer combined. Stage admitted to the attraction being funny, but said you’d understand if you never had a parking lot.

“I am obsessed with it,” he joked.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que started in 1983 as a mobile concession before opening up its first location in Syracuse in 1988, according to its website, and, by November 2010, had three other locations, in Rochester, Harlem and Troy. In May, the first restaurant outside of New York opened in Newark, N.J.